HOWARD JONES

HOWARD JONES HEADS OUT ACROSS THE UK ON A SOLO PIANO TOUR IN EARLY 2016. FOR TWO YEARS, BETWEEN 1984 AND ’86, IT SEEMED AS IF HE COULD DO NO WRONG – COMMERCIALLY AT LEAST. HE ENJOYED A RUN OF MAJOR HIT SINGLES INCLUDING NEW SONG, WHAT IS LOVE, PEARL IN THE SHELL, THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER AND NO-ONE IS TO BLAME. HIS DEBUT ALBUM HUMAN’S LIB ENTERED THE CHART AT NUMBER ONE.

Recognising that he was never a particularly ‘cool’ or ‘credible’ proposition for the inky end of the music press, Jones concentrated his message of positivity – of being the best version of yourself that you can be – on a captivated teenage market. In this extended edition of The Mouthcast, he talks about his personal values and spiritual beliefs – how they deeply influenced his lyrics and behaviour during his time as “a pop star”, and how he has continued working at living by them for the last three decades through his adoption of buddhist practices… He also looks back at his less-than-two-year journey from pub gigs around his hometown High Wycombe to getting a record deal at the relatively late age of 28 to a number one debut album to playing solo piano at Wembley Stadium in front of LIVE AID’s global TV audience of billions. He looks back at the years of graft which led to his success, reflects on the fact he almost signed to legendary new-wave label STIFF and talks about his much-loved early songs – in particular explaining the inspiration behind transcendent 1984 single HIDE AND SEEK…